A federal law providing remedies for certain federal employees and applicants who are eligible for veterans' preference in hiring if a federal executive agency violates the veteran's preference rights (5 U.S.C. §§ 3330a-3330b). VEOA added "violating a veterans' preference requirement" to the list of prohibited personnel practices (PPPs) in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) (5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(11)).

VEOA gives preference-eligible veterans the right to appeal any alleged violation of their veterans' preference rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Before appealing to the MSPB, a preference-eligible veteran must exhaust their administrative remedies by filing a complaint with the Department of Labor Veterans' Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS).

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) may bring a disciplinary action case before the MSPB to discipline an agency official who knowingly violates a veteran's preference rights.

For more information, see Practice Note, Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) Appeals Before the MSPB.